YOU’VE DECIDED
TO GET A PUPPY
A very informative booklet for what to expect after
deciding to get a puppy
LEARNING
MORE ABOUT THE BREED YOU HAVE CHOSEN
Breed
Clubs
It is up to you to learn as much as possible about the breed you
have chosen, before you start viewing puppies. Most breeds have a “job” to do
and were originally bred to serve man in different ways, herding and guarding
livestock, protecting their owners, flushing out game for hunters to shoot and
retrieving them for the owner from the water. Some like
Even if you have no
intention of showing or breeding you are bound to be interested in the breed in
general, it is a very good idea to join your “Breed Club”. Every breed has at
least one breed club and the popular breeds often have several clubs based in
different parts of the
You will receive newsletters and yearbooks which are very
interesting, with lots of photos of your breed. When you ring ask about the
hereditary diseases that affect your chosen breed, what they are called and how
they affect the dog, whether it is serious or life threatening. Write them
down, some have long and difficult names to remember until you are familiar
with them. If you have access to an on-line computer you can find out all about
them, but books will also explain the problems well. The breed clubs are often more knowledgeable
about their breeds’ health problems than a lot of veterinarians. The
veterinarians will know how to treat them, if they are treatable, but may not
know exactly which conditions affect which breed. Find out which conditions can
be tested for and what the acceptable results are. Ask which books on the breed
you should buy, there are so many and some will be better than others.
Books
Always check that any “breed” books are written and published in
I would recommend that you buy any puppy book written by Dr. Ian
Dunbar and anything by Kay White. The one book I highly recommend is one called
“The Doglopedia” by Kay White and Jim Evans. It comes
in paperback and hardback and is a fabulous all round dog book that you will
refer to all through your dog’s life. If
you buy a bitch get “The Book of the Bitch” written by the same pair. If I only
had two books on general dog care, they would be the two I’d buy.
Dog Shows
When you ring the Kennel Club about breed clubs also ask them if
there is an open show near you soon. Dog
shows are held in most areas, most weekends, which may surprise you. They are often held at Leisure Centres and
are often only advertised in the dog press and usually locals don’t even know
they are happening, unless they show dogs!!
Go along and talk to exhibitors about their breeds. Wait until they have
finished showing for the day though, they may too busy grooming and preparing
their dogs, and most will be happy to chat when they have finished. You can
have fun watching the classes and guessing which dog will win. You may even find that some of the people
showing their dogs are expecting puppies or even have some for sale. Seeing
dogs “in the flesh” and being able to meet and watch them may help you make up
your mind if you are still not too sure which breed to go for. There have been
many books written about which breed to choose depending on your home and
family situation. I won’t attempt that here.
WHAT IS A PUPPY FARM/PUPPY FARMER
Finding the right puppy can be very exciting but it is also full of
pitfalls. Sadly all over the
These places are puppy farms. Some of you may have seen them on the
television or read about them in other media, but many people not involved in
dogs have never heard of them. This is
why I have written this guide to avoiding them, to try and help you find a good
reputable breeder.
Newborn puppies are very delicate; they are born in a premature
state, in comparison to most other animals.
They are blind, deaf and have under developed nervous systems at birth.
They can’t stand up but drag themselves around by their forelegs to find a teat
or warmth. For the first two weeks they
do very little except sleep and suck.
Their eyes start to open from nine days, depending on the breed and
gradually their hind legs develop sufficiently to allow them to stand up and
take their first wobbly steps between two and three weeks. It is vital at this age that they receive
lots of gentle handling and play time with people, getting used to being petted
and picked up. They should have lots of room to gallop about and play with toys
preferably outside if the weather is mild, in a clean and safe environment.
The breeder will start the weaning process between two and four
weeks of age, depending on how much milk the mother has. Little meals are
introduced gradually increasing the quantity of food and frequency of meals so
they gradually take less milk from mum, so her milk has a chance to dry off
slowly and finish suckling them by seven weeks at the latest,
Some mothers are happy to stay with their babies until they are
sold and others have had enough by the time the puppies are five to six weeks,
they are all different. By five weeks the puppies should be having four or five
little meals a day, having daily play and ideally in and out of the house all
day with the family.
By six weeks early weaned puppies are able to be independent from
their mother but are still very small and sleep much of the time, they are
still much too young to be sold.
Puppies grow and strengthen a great deal between six and eight
weeks, and their personality is forming fast now, it is so important that they
are in the right sort of environment to explore, meet people and get used to
household activities.
When the puppies are first born the mother has weeks of hard work
ahead, and the only way she can rear a litter of strong healthy pups is to be
in the peak of condition well before she is even mated. Then she must be fed on the very best food
and given a great deal of care with all her needs, emotional and physical,
catered for until she has completely recovered from having her pups, which may
take four to eight weeks after the puppies are sold. It’s a long process – pregnant for nine weeks
then working hard to look after them for several weeks, she needs to be very
carefully and knowledgably looked after.
Young puppies are very susceptible to infection and disease that
older dogs may shake off, so the place the puppies are born and reared in must
be spotlessly clean. Dogs mature very
quickly in comparison to us – eighteen months as opposed to eighteen years and
all their growing processes happen at great speed. This is why it is so important for puppies to
be fed with a correctly balanced diet, correct for their breed/type, right from
the start.
A puppy born to an under nourished, ill cared for mother, then
reared on an inadequate diet in dirty surroundings with little or no human
contact has the very worst start in life.
You can’t make up for months of neglect.
A puppy farm puppy may never be as healthy as a puppy from an
experienced reputable breeder.
WHAT IS A PUPPY FARM
These are factory farms where any numbers of bitches (often dozens
and sometimes hundreds) are kept, usually of several different breeds that are
kept solely for the purpose of making as much money for a little outlay as
possible. Bitches often have two litters
a year (one registered, the other not).
Good breeders would normally only mate a bitch once a year at the most.
This means that puppy farm bitches for eight or nine months of every year are
either pregnant or rearing puppies for many years, usually until they stop
breeding easily, when they are destroyed.
They have no time to recover properly in between litters.
It can be hard to spot a puppy farmer because they go to great
lengths to pretend they are good breeders.
Don’t be deceived, many of these people are smart and well educated,
they don’t have to live on a farm or even in the countryside, and they may live
in a flat with no garden and keep several bitches in crates in a spare
room. They may be archetypal
farmers on a farm, but not necessarily.
One thing they will have in common though is that they will be keen to
deliver a puppy to your home or motorway service station. This is so you don’t have to see the awful conditions
that they have been bred in. The worse
the place is the more keen they will be to deliver, to keep you off their
premises. They say it’s because they want to see your home and where it’s going
to live, like they care!! If a breeder
doesn’t want to see the puppies at home then go elsewhere.
I should clarify at this point that traditional farmers are not
necessarily puppy farmers, though of course some are. A puppy farm may be run
as a sideline on a traditional farm but many famous exhibitors of dogs are also
farmers, but they are not puppy farmers.
I cannot stress strongly enough that the place to buy your puppy
from must be from a caring breeder and preferably one who specialises in just
one or two breeds.
Many puppy farm puppies die within days or weeks in their new home.
This is doubly upsetting if there are children in the family. Of course the poor puppy is often (but not
always) half the price of a well reared one, which is why most people buy them.
“Oh we just want a puppy for the kids, I’m not paying £400-£500” is a common
reply when they hear the normal price for a well bred well reared puppy.
A cheap puppy soon becomes a very expensive one after several
hundred pounds worth of veterinarian’s bills and then dies with no insurance
cover.
Puppies that never leave their tiny indoor pen have no opportunity
to do what little puppies should do: have lots of room to run about and play
and chase each other about, to feel the sun on their backs and roll around in
the grass. To have toys to play with
when they are bored with their siblings and a daily explore around the
house. Puppies that never leave their
pen are under tremendous mental stress and those that have no distractions or
toys will start to either become withdrawn or hyper-active. Under these conditions some of the hyper ones
will become over-dominant (bossy) and start to bully the others mercilessly
just because they are bored. They will
almost certainly become destructive, destroying their beds and bedding (if they
have any) and anything else they can get their teeth into. Once established this destructive behaviour
can be very difficult to overcome. As well as being mentally stressed they are
physically stressed because of their inadequate diet, exercise and dirty
surroundings. Their only human contact is a dish of food slid under the gate
and a quick kick if they get in the way.
By eight weeks the seeds are sown, if they have had little kind
human contact they will be nervous and frightened by the world in general. Stress alone can alter the efficiency of the
immune system which is not established anyway at that tender age.
THE RIGHT BREEDER
·
Doesn’t breed from bitches under eighteen months or after eight
years of age
·
Doesn’t breed from bitches more than once a year
·
NEVER sells to dealers or pet shops
·
Usually only delivers puppies under exceptional circumstances, if
at all, not as a matter of course like puppy farmers do
·
Is friendly open and helpful willing to answer all your questions
·
Will not fail to ask YOU lots of questions, why you chose this breed,
why do you want one now, what is your lifestyle – work commitments, have you
children what are their ages, do you have a well fenced garden. Don’t be upset
or offended. The good breeders are very concerned to whom they sell their
precious puppies, if you are not asked these questions I would conclude they
don’t really care who they sell their puppies to.
·
Will be happy to show you all their dogs (except perhaps newly
whelped bitches and newborn puppies)
·
Will obviously love their dogs to bits and treat and talk about
them with great affection.
·
Will want to stay in touch with you after you take your puppy home
to help you with any problems or queries
·
Will give you in depth information on exactly how to feed, train,
care for the puppy with written feeding, worming grooming instructions
·
Will be most concerned to find the very best homes for their
puppies and not be desperate to sell them quickly.
FINDING THE RIGHT BREEDER
By now you will realise the importance of avoiding puppy farmers
and finding a really dedicated reputable breeder. There are several good ways
of going about this. You might consider:
Breed Clubs
Breed club members often inform the clubs’ puppy co-ordinator when
they are expecting puppies. These
puppies should be better bred (look and move like they are supposed to) and
have a temperament correct for the breed.
They should also be better reared than average, but one can’t
generalise, you will still need to ask all the same questions, as not every
breed club member will be virtuous, but you have much more chance of finding
the right puppy from a member than just picking an advert out of the
paper.
Again you may think, “I don’t want a puppy to show, so why
bother”. Even if you have no intention
of showing your dog, don’t be put off buying a puppy from a show kennel; a show
dog is just one that looks and acts exactly like it should for the breed, and
isn’t that why you want a pedigree dog?
These puppies will almost always have received the best of everything –
a well balanced diet, regular worming, and daily play, exercise, grooming and
trimming. Lots of chances to meet strangers and maybe will even have had a few
trips in the car and be partly house trained.
These breeders are very concerned to keep hereditary and other
health problems at bay. They will be
aiming to keep the best of their puppies for themselves, so may well be trying
harder than non-show breeders to avoid them, by only using tested breeding
stock. People who are breeding to produce show dogs are looking to continue
their “line” and should be much more vigilant than the average breeder to avoid
hereditary disease.
All bred club members have to adhere to strict regulations as to
how they look after their dogs, how often they are bred and to whom they can
sell their puppies. If it is found that
they have broken the rules they can face heavy discipline from their breed
club, which may well result in them ceasing to win or judge, let alone the
wrath of the Kennel Club, who often ban people from showing and registering
their puppies for life or many years.
LOCAL VETERINARIAN’S PRACTISES
Ask at ALL the local veterinarians in your area. Just ring up and ask to speak to the senior
small-animal veterinarians there. You may
be asked to ring back at a less busy time, but don’t let that put you of. Most
of the day, veterinarians are busy treating their patients, but there will be a
time that you can speak to them. When
you get to speak to him/her ask if they can recommend a breeder of the breed/s
you are interested in. If you haven’t already found out elsewhere, ask which
hereditary problems are common in “your” breed, and which ones a good breeder
will have tested (or screened) for and what would be a satisfactory outcome of
each test.
A veterinarian is in the very best position to know which of their
clients (the breeders) really do care well for their
dogs. The veterinarians will have seen
many or most of the dogs at their surgery for treatment and vaccinations and may
well have been to the breeders premises on a home visit.
Don’t be shy about doing this, its good practise. The veterinarians won’t mind at all because
you are potentially a new client for them and you will get lots of good free
advice. One of the surgeries you contact may be particularly friendly or
impressive in other ways and if you haven’t already got a veterinarian this is
an excellent way to find one that you get on with.
Alternatively of course you may already have a veterinarian, but
find the one at the other end of town has better facilities or be
friendlier!! It is so important to
choose a veterinarian who is friendly and approachable, and who actually
listens to what you have to say. He/she should not be over-bearing, dismissive
of your ideas/comments or make you feel ignorant. Find a veterinarian who is
happy to help further your knowledge, one who explains exactly what he’s doing
and why, and handles your pet kindly and carefully.
KENNEL BRED or HOME REARED?
It is not “PC” (politically correct) these days to buy from a
kennel and all the advice is to buy a home reared puppy. However puppies are
reared in all sorts of different circumstances. It would be almost impossible
to rear a large litter of
There is no doubt that once puppies reach 4 weeks old they should
be in the house with human company for much of the day, preferably with access
to the outside, say from the kitchen door. Kennel bred puppies can happily
sleep outside in a heated kennel or building near the house and spend most of
the day in the house. This gives the best of both worlds,
fresh air and play outside and seeing other dogs and lots of human
company and adaptation to household activities, meeting visitors and learning
house training.
I would not want a home reared puppy that had hardly ever been
outside to play, they have “missed out” as much as a kennel bred puppy that
never comes into the house!
The important thing is to keep an open mind and judge for your self
whether the puppies, where-ever they have been reared, are friendly, confident,
plump, and clean, as all the other dogs there should be, and that the
surroundings they have been reared in are suitable for the breed. I once
visited a litter of “home reared” puppies to find them in an unventilated,
unheated conservatory (boiling hot in summer and freezing in winter) with no
access to the outside or the rest of the house. They were 8 weeks old and had
never been out of the room. They may have been reared indoors, but the
facilities were totally unsuitable. It was too hot and smelly, and the puppies
just sat in their basket and looked at me, and were not at all confident, I
suspect they had never met anyone outside the family before. The breeder was
proud of the fact that these were “home reared puppies” and not bred in a nasty
kennel, I was appalled!!
If you buy from a kennel take these points into consideration:
It’s usually better to buy from a small kennel, which I would call
under ten dogs. It depends how many people are involved in looking after them,
but ten would be a full time job for one person and really that’s pushing it. I
don’t think any one person can rear more than two litters well, at one time,
even if they have only a few dogs. I keep seven and don’t work elsewhere, and I
only just have time to do very basic housework and occasionally cook and look
after one litter of puppies at a time.
However a larger kennel with enough extra help can still do things
properly. What takes up the most time, when you have a kennel of dogs, is
giving them enough individual attention, exercise and play as well as grooming
and cleaning out and the mundane chores. When there are puppies the breeder
should still have enough time left to be able to devote several hours a day to
them. Puppies born and kept mostly in a
kennel situation should be in their new homes at eight weeks, don’t buy a
kennel reared puppy later than nine or ten weeks unless it spends most of every
day in and out of the house with the breeder.
So good well-reared puppies can come from a kennel or a kitchen,
just make sure the facilities are suitable. If they are reared well in the
house then there should be no smell to speak of. It is not OK for the house -
or kennel for that matter - to be smelly or dirty. They should have regular
access to the great outdoors in good weather. If mostly kennel reared the
kennel should have large concrete or concrete and grass runs attached, which
the puppies can go in and out of at will. Full bowls of clean water and
comfortable beds and bedding. Kennels should be able to be heated when puppies
are young or in very cold weather, again depending on the breed. Toy breeds
probably do, “do better” in the house, as small puppies they can be quite
delicate. Fresh air and room to play is
very important for all breeds. If you are buying from a kennel, choose one that
only breeds one or two breeds, not the large commercial kennels that supply
many breeds. Don’t be taken in by their sales talk, buy from a specialist
kennel.
HOBBY BREEDERS
This type of breeder has two or three pedigree bitches, which live
in the house as pets and sometimes breeds puppies. The problem to consider here
is whether or not the owners is also an experienced breeder and dog owner or is
this among the first litters they have bred.
Do they know about the hereditary conditions of that particular
breed? Do they know how to look after
the mother and their puppies properly? They may love them to bits, but do the
puppies get the right diet, regular worming, correct handling etc? If the owner does all the right things then
this may be a source of your new puppy as long as you don’t mind whether its’ a
good example of the breed. There also may not be the back up and “after sales
service” though. If they are not very experienced they may not be able to help
you in the future, with any problems that may arise. Lifetime help and advice
is always offered by the experienced reputable breeder.
KENNEL CLUB
They will send you a list of recently registered puppies from
unlicensed breeders. Unlicensed breeders
are those that register no more than four litters a year. Some breeders
brandish their licence as a good thing, but if they breed many litters a year
this would make then the sort of commercial enterprise or maybe even a puppy
farm that you wish to avoid. Those that do register more than four litters a
year have to be licensed, by law, by their local council with annual
inspections. Those that breed four
litters a year or less are generally considered to be more desirable. It is
useful to have this list but remember that these are in no way “recommended”
puppies; they could equally easily be poorly or well reared and bred. If you want to know how many litters a
breeder has registered in any three months of the year you can buy a “breed
Supplement” from the Kennel Club, which contains all the puppies registered in
a three-month period for all the breeds within a group. If a breeder has several litters in one
“quarter” then it’s likely you can times it by three or four to get their
annual litter count.
UN-REGISTERED PUPPIES
Some people think that they will save some money and buy a cheaper
unregistered puppy. Don’t fall into this
trap. You might as well get a cross breed, free to good home.
Without KC registration you have no proof that the puppies are in
fact from pedigree parents, they may look pedigree at 8 weeks to an
inexperienced buyer and then grow into a dog that is obviously a cross
breed. Those that do not register are probably
breeding from over age bitches (bitches should not have puppies after their
eighth birthday without KC permission, which is rarely given). Also a bitch owner may not register more than
one litter a year from her, which is an excellent new ruling.
Those that don’t register puppies can breed from their bitch every
six months without a break, which is appalling practise. It also means they can
breed as often as they like and from as many bitches as they like without
having to have their premises inspected or be licensed and the conditions are
likely to be very poor. This sort of breeder is only motivated by making money
and cares nothing for their dogs or the future of their breed, whatever they
may say or whatever excuses they give.
Don’t be conned! If you want
a pedigree puppy get a registered one, if you want a cross breed, get one from
rescue.
RESCUE HOMES
Rescue homes sometimes have puppies that have been born to rescue
bitches. Although in some cases the mother may appear to be a pedigree, the
puppies almost certainly won’t be. It is very important that the mother has a
friendly temperament (a lot to expect in a rescue kennel) and appears in good
physical condition. If she was rescued
in mid to late pregnancy and was in poor condition it is likely that she wont
have healthy, sturdy puppies. You can be reasonably sure, though, that a
recognised kennel will have looked after the mother and puppies well. These puppies should be re-homed before ten
weeks at the latest as they have come from a kennel environment.
Don’t be tempted to take on an older rescued puppy that was not
born there or has been a victim of cruelty or neglect if this is your first
puppy or you have children and/or a busy or noisy household. Sadly, many rescued puppies have emotional
problems of varying severity that needs someone with lots of experience and who
has a good knowledge of how to help these damaged dogs lead happy lives. Even a puppy as young as sixteen weeks, who
has had a bad experience and may have been in several homes may be very
difficult to deal with by anyone inexperienced.
COMMERCIAL BREEDERS
These are usually large kennels specialising in several breeds.
They often display advertisement boards on the roadside. Although there are some similarities to a
puppy farm in so much as they are breeding for financial gain the differences
should be:
·
Kennels will be purpose built, spotlessly clean, with comfortable
beds, access to outside runs all day if its mild, clean bedding in beds and on
the floor.
·
All the dogs and puppies obviously clean and healthy looking,
showing interest in you, active with waggy tails and
a happy outlook
·
Breeder friendly and helpful willing to show you all the dogs and
spend as much time as you want, answering your questions
·
Puppies well wormed, some commercial breeders sell their puppies
having had their first vaccination
·
All the paperwork in order, KC registered with the form there for
you to see, and take if you buy the puppy. Pedigree details (mother and father)
must tally with the KC registration form
·
Puppies should definitely be insured.
Although these puppies may not have been in the house much, if at
all, they should have received lots of handling and be confident to meet you.
If all seems in order you may get a good puppy here, however it is always
preferable to buy from a small private breeder where they will receive more
individual attention.
ADVERTISEMENTS
This is probably the most commonly known source of puppies, but
hopefully you can find a puppy by means mentioned earlier. Once you start
answering advertisements you really have to “let the buyer beware”. You will have to sort the good from the bad
with clever questioning and a little bit of intuition. For example:
This advert says a lot about the puppies and the breeder seems to
be a caring one who has done the right things. Compare it to the one below:
These are typical adverts taken from a weekly yellow free paper.
Each advertiser pays the same for an advert of up to 50 words. Why is the
second advert so short, when they could have said so much more? The second advert generates no interest for
me at all. They are selling puppies at 6 weeks, which is far too young, and are
offering to deliver, which should always be viewed with suspicion.
Almost all adverts contain the words “excellent pedigree”. Some
“breeders” think that just because there are one or two ancestors, way back in
the pedigree that are Champions that they are entitled to put excellent
pedigree in the dogs’ description. In my eyes at least one quarter of the dogs
on a five-generation pedigree should be Champions to be entitled to say
“excellent pedigree”. That’s about 20
Champions out of 62 names on a pedigree.
The first advert tells me so much more and the breeder really
sounds a caring one that has done a good job rearing the puppies. I know which puppies I would want to go and
see; I wouldn’t even bother ringing the second advert.
Always look for what the advert doesn’t say as well as what it does
say.
So far we have concentrated on avoiding the puppy farmers and less
desirable breeders, but don’t become too cynical. Genuine breeders do
exist.
When you ring up in reply to an advert do be polite and
friendly. Do your best not to sound
suspicious, a puppy farmer will soon pick up on this and tell you lies to
convince you they are good breeders.
A genuine breeder may well be offended if you sound suspicious and
decide they don’t like you, and therefore may not sell to you. Ask about the
puppies etc in a friendly way. Good breeders know they will sell their quality
puppies easily and won’t do a “hard sell”, they know they can pick and choose
the best homes that are on offer for their precious puppies. A puppy farmer may well try a “hard sell”; a
good breeder never does this. Also the price quoted in the advert is the price
you pay, don’t try and knock the price down, this is the ultimate crime of a
prospective purchaser ringing a good breeder. They will think “how dare they
try and beat me down when they haven’t even seen the puppies”.
An experienced breeder, good or bad, will be able to tell exactly
how well informed or how experienced you are very quickly, so don’t pretend you
know more than you do. Hopefully though, by the time you have digested this book
you will be much better informed than most “novice” buyers.
Good breeders are extremely fussy who they sell their puppies to,
but are usually willing to sell to first time owners if you show sufficient
interest in learning all about how to look after your new puppy properly.
REPLYING TO ADVERTISEMENTS
Do ring at a reasonable hour, dog breeders are usually very busy
people who often have other family commitments, like cooking and eating
dinner!! There is nothing more annoying than being dragged away from your
Sunday lunch with long lost friends; someone even rang me for puppies on
Christmas Day once, when I didn’t even have any puppies, unbelievable!!
Try and ring during office hours or at least no later than
Further on there is a list of questions that I suggest you ask when
you ring up. Have a sheet of paper to write down the phone numbers and the
answers each gives to your questions.
There is nothing worse than after a day of phoning round, finding the
perfect puppy/breeder and then not remembering which particular advert it was!
Once you have introduced yourself, either tell them you have a list
of questions to ask or work the questions into the conversation and tick them
off as you go. A good breeder won’t mind
at all, and will be pleased you are so well prepared. Sometimes a breeder is so enthusiastic about
their dogs they may well answer all your questions when you just say “Can you
tell me about the puppies, please?”
There is so much to remember and think about when you ring up and
speak to breeders. Hopefully having the
list of questions to ask will help. Do listen to answers given, very
carefully. Are your questions actually
being answered or do they “beat around the bush”. Your first concern will be to find out if it
is a puppy farm. When you ring, for example say: “I’m ringing up about the
puppies in the paper” rather than “I’m ringing about the
Don’t give them any idea of the answer you want, in your
questioning.
Whatever you do, don’t ask them if they are puppy farmers! If they are they would never admit to it and
a genuine breeder will be mortally offended!
Ask how many dogs they have altogether, if its dozens, or they don’t
want to answer, be suspicious. You
should be well armed with information from this book, to sort out, with
intelligent and polite questioning, whether they are the sort of breeder you
are looking for.
For example: You have by now
(hopefully) found out about the hereditary diseases and conditions that affect
your chosen breed. You now know what
they are, does the breeder that you are ringing? You can ask (knowing the answer) “What
hereditary diseases affect this breed?” and see what sort of answers you
get. Any breeder that doesn’t know or
doesn’t explain them clearly, probably doesn’t know as much as you now know,
and should be avoided like the plague.
You also now know that six weeks is far too young for a puppy to go
to its new home. Ask: “What age will
they be ready to go?” You know it should
be seven to seven-and-half weeks at the earliest, and preferably not till eight
weeks.
Even if the price is an important
factor to you, as it is to most of us, don’t let it be your first question. If you do, a good breeder will get the message
from you that the most important aspect as far as you are concerned, is the
price, when they are keen to tell you about their lovely babies. This does not
get you off to a good start with them. If they feel you are worried about the
price, they may think that you may not have the funds to look after and rear
the puppy well and meet all the expenses that a new puppy brings.
QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN YOU RING UP
·
“I’m ringing up about the puppies in the paper, can you tell me
about them please?”
·
“Have you got a black bitch puppy?” (Or whatever it is you want)
·
Now ask the price, if you don’t already know
·
“Are they reared in the house or in a kennel environment?”
·
“Have they been registered with the Kennel Club yet?”
·
“How many times have they been wormed?”
·
“Have they been vaccinated?” (Puppies under eight weeks are
unlikely to be vaccinated, but may be vaccinated against Parvo
Virus.
·
“At what age will they be ready to go to their new homes?”
·
“How old is the mum and has she had puppies before?” Try and find
out how many litters, it really should not be more than four or five though the
KC allow a bitch to have six registered litters
·
“Do you own the father of the puppies too; can we see him (If they
do own him) and /or all the other dogs, if we come?”
·
“What hereditary problems does the breed have?” (If these problems
can be screened/tested for, has it been done and what are the results?”
·
“Will they be insured?”
When you have found one that you like the sound of, arrange a mutually
convenient time to go and see them. If
they sound just what you want, don’t delay, good puppies sell very quickly. If
they are advertised before they are ready to go the breeder may want a deposit.
This is normal practise. I wouldn’t send a deposit for a puppy you haven’t
seen, as deposits are usually non-refundable.
If you can, go and visit the litter between five and eight weeks
and leave a deposit if you are sure you want one. You may not be able to actually choose the
puppy, as the breeder may want to keep one themselves and of course, they have
first pick! They may not decide which one they are going to keep until the
puppies are eight weeks. At eight weeks most puppies are “miniatures” of what
they will look like as adults, and this is the perfect age to choose them, on
looks. If you do leave a deposit, make sure you get a receipt, which includes
the balance to pay on collection and written confirmation that if they have not
already been registered, that they will be by eight weeks.
Leave plenty of time for the journey and don’t be late! If you are going to be more than half an hour
late, phone them and let them know. They may have more clients coming later on.
If you are viewing puppies that are actually old enough to collect
that day, make sure you have made preparations both at home and for the
journey. You will also need to have exactly the same food that the puppy is
being fed. Find out what and how often they are fed and make sure you have the
right food.
Everyone who is going should wear unimportant trousers and flat,
lightweight shoes. Friendly puppies will jump up, so skirts and tights on the
girls and ladies will be ruined, and you don’t want your legs scratched by
their little nails. They may also lick at your shoes, and try and undo your
laces, so don’t wear your best. People
arriving “done up to the nines” don’t impress dog breeders! Do have the attitude that you need to impress
the dog breeder, that you will give the puppy a permanent caring home and that
you are willing to learn, and actually listen to what they tell you about
caring for the puppy. Don’t have the attitude that you are doing the breeder a
favour by buying a puppy; it is very definitely the other way round!
Small puppies are very easy to tread on, they seem to delight in
getting under your feet, and it is much more preferable to wear soft shoes,
like trainers, than high heels or steel capped boots! The very last thing you must do is injure a
puppy.
If you are taking children with you, they must be old enough to
understand a “pep talk” and be relied upon to do as they are told. Tell them they must NOT pick the puppies up,
a good breeder will find them something for the children to sit on, on the
floor and allow the puppies to crawl safely over them, at floor level. They
must NOT shout and scream or run about, wave their arms about or be at all
rowdy. I have refused to sell puppies to people several times because their
children were so badly behaved that I was too worried that the puppy would be
hurt or frightened in a home with children like that. They may not mean any
harm, but puppies don’t know that, and “not meaning any harm”, is no good when
the puppy is injured or so badly frightened or roughly handled that it starts
to bite or cower, and who could blame it?
Even bold, friendly puppies will back away if they are frightened
by you or your family, and you could ruin their temperament if your child
frightens one, it could be scared of children for life. Girls should have long hair tied back in
bunches or a pony tail, so it doesn’t hang in the puppy’s face when they bend
down to them.
“See the puppy with its mother” is good advice, but what do you
look for? Is she the right size and
shape for the breed, and have the important characteristics for the breed (i.e.
be an acceptable colour)? There is a
fashion these days for buying white puppies of breeds that do not recognise
white as a colour for that breed, for example white Boxers and German Shepherd
Dogs. Please be aware that these are more likely to be deaf than Boxers or GSD’s of the accepted colours. Don’t be fooled into paying
more for these puppies than the ordinary price for the breed, they are not more
desirable in the dog world.
Is mum in good condition? This is a tricky question. By the time puppies
are six or seven weeks the mother has had several weeks of hard work as caring
for and feeding her puppies is a twenty-four hours a day job. Some bitches have
puppies like shelling peas, love every minute of it and never lose any weight,
staying playful and bright. For some others, its just jolly hard wok, and some
bitches “milk off their back”, i.e. they put everything into their puppies
through their lavish supply of milk, and can lose a lot of condition and often
some of their coat (fur), even though they have been fed as much good food as
they can eat. Large litters that the bitch has “done well” can really drain her
and leave her looking thin and fraught for a few weeks, until they are weaned
and she can regain her good condition. If you visit a litter of four weeks of
age the bitch is very likely to look thinner than she normally would, but by
the time the puppies are weaned she should have put on weight. A “good milker” may take several weeks to regain her former
condition.
Some bitches are very maternal, and while the puppies are still
living full time with her, she may be concerned about visitors and not be over
friendly with strangers. Once the puppies are four to five weeks old though,
most bitches are happy to show their brood off. Although she may not be
actually friendly, a good pointer of temperament within the kennel is that ALL
the other dogs should be friendly. If they are, the bitch’s true temperament is
probably good. She should not however growl or behave aggressively. She should
appear alert and interested.
Many breeders will have weaned the puppies from the mother
completely by six or seven weeks, and if you are viewing at eight weeks it
would be quite normal for mother and puppies to be living separately, so that
the puppies are completely weaned and ready to sell. You should be able to see
all the litter together, not one puppy brought up to the house.
You should be able to view all the other dogs there, unless they
have young puppies, but don’t expect to pet them all. Look and see their
condition and watch their reaction to you. Dogs will often bark a greeting, but
they should also be wagging their tails and look interested to see you. They
should be confident to approach and meet you, not hanging back.
If the breeder won’t show you the other dogs, or its obvious that
there are more in other buildings, be suspicious. If the breed of dog includes
dark colours, they should have very shiny coats and be in excellent condition.
Long coated breeds should be well groomed, with no tangles or mats.
SO:
·
Are the premises clean with little or no “doggy” smell and suitable
for the dogs, either purpose built kennels with well fenced runs or are they a
collection of shabby sheds, untidy cold draughty outbuildings.
·
If the dogs live in the house, does it smell like lots of dogs live
there? It shouldn’t, unless perhaps it’s very wet weather and the dogs are long
coated. Use your judgement.
·
Does each dog have a comfortable place to sleep with cosy bedding?
·
If there are large numbers of dogs kept it is better (for hygiene
reasons) that the puppies are separate in some way. Especially if there are
lots of movements of animals going on in that kennel. i.e.: they go to shows,
do dog grooming for others, or also run a boarding kennel or do activities that
entail different dogs coming and going, have visitingbitches
to their stud dogs. There will be many chances in a busy kennel like this for
infections to be brought in to the puppies from outside, if they are all kept
in close proximity.
·
Is the place well organised, clean and tidy?
·
Is there sufficient bedding (often sawdust or shavings on the
floor, blankets or paper in the beds) or are there pools of urine or lots of
faeces lying around? Straw is not very good bedding for dogs.
·
Does every dog have access to a clean bowl of water?
·
Do they look happy?
The puppies may well be asleep when you arrive so give them a
chance to wake up properly. Sleepy puppies won’t be that bouncy or
friendly-another good reason to arrive on time. The breeder will hopefully have
chosen a time for you to visit, when they will be easily woken and not when
they have just gone to sleep. Small puppies sleep a lot of the day and when
they are tired, they just can’t wake up to play!
Once they are awake and running about, hopefully you will be
allowed to be in with them, and not standing on the outside looking in. If some
are already sold but not collected yet, the breeder may put them somewhere
separate after a few minutes so that you can see the only puppies that are
available. Or if you definitely want a male puppy they may put the bitches back
and only leave out all the available dog puppies. This is quite normal. Its
hard to choose when, as you are trying to choose, each one you like, is already
sold! You should be able to see the whole litter running about together for a
little while though.
Squat down to their level and talk to them in a gentle cheerful
voice and encourage them quietly to come to you by holding out one hand for
them to sniff. Puppies prefer to be
rubbed under the chin, rather than having the top of the head stroked, they may
shy away if you move too quickly or try to pat them. Stroke, don’t pat, patting
may hurt a small puppy! Chattering away
to the puppies when you first meet them is important, don’t be shy or feel
silly, it will give them confidence. You want to see the puppies at their best
so treat them as they need to be treated to get the best out of them. A caring breeder, who loves his dogs and
puppies, will talk to them all the time and they won’t think you are at all
strange! In fact this is what they want
to see, someone who knows how to “be” with small puppies. Don’t pick any
up unless you are invited to, and then always with both hands. The correct way
is to lift the puppy under his chest with the right hand and then let it rest
on your left arm with the left hand around its bottom and the right hand
holding around the chest under the head, so that there is no way he can jump
from your arms, which a puppy will try to if he is not being held
properly. Ask if you are not sure, there
is no need to worry, a good breeder will be more than happy to show you how to
hold their precious puppy.
Very soon they should all be tumbling about, playing and
play-fighting with each other and one by one investigating you, your shoes or
handbag, showing a keen interest. Puppies that don’t approach you or need great
encouragement to do so should be avoided. Well-reared puppies will show no
fear, as long as you and your family don’t frighten them. Sometimes there will be one or two puppies
that are a little less confident than some of the others, but they should still
approach for fuss. These ones have probably been at the end of the pecking order
and may have a more cautious temperament. Although they will probably come on
fine in a quiet household, do not choose one of these if you have young
children. If you are a quiet sort of person, this puppy might suit you well. If
you like the quiet puppy, ask the breeder to put the bossy puppies away, so you
can see how it is with one non-bossy littermate around. Keep your movements slow and your voices
quiet.
Watch the puppies while they are playing. Are they bright and bouncy,
up to mischief with each other and toys/bones? Or are they sitting around
looking anxious? Is one bigger or
rougher than the others, or is there one that always beats the others to the
toy or for fuss and attention? If so, this will be the dominant (boss) puppy.
There is always a boss in a litter, and the puppies have a definite pecking
order. The boss puppy is not always the best choice for a first time puppy
buyer, they may seem more appealing, but will possibly be harder to train and
try and dominate you more than one of the others, especially if it’s a male.
Please take this advice if you are buying a large or guarding breed.
ARE THEY ALL A PICTURE OF GOOD FUN AND GOOD HEALTH?
·
Plump and sturdy, really clean and well groomed
·
Clean under the tail, no bright pink skin or staining
·
Bright eyes with no discharge, no thick discharge from the nose,
though it is normal for the nose to have a very little watery discharge from
the nose to keep it damp.
·
Pink gums. Pale gums indicate incorrect diet or lack of correct
worming
·
You should be able to pick up a small fold of skin easily, it
should feel cool and pliable and spring back into place immediately you let go.
The skin should not feel tightly stretched across his frame; this is an
indication of poor general health. Skin should be smooth and supple with no
scurf, scabs or bare patches.
·
In the majority of breeds the upper teeth should fit closely over
the bottom teeth, like ours do. They should grow out of the jaw vertically and
straight in alignment. The teeth should not point forward or back and the
canine teeth should lock together. If one jaw is noticeably longer than the
other and the teeth don’t fit together closely the puppy may not have a correct
mouth. This can be very important if the problem is severe the puppy may not be
able to eat properly as an adult. If you get as far as choosing a puppy, get
the breeder to “show you the puppy’s mouth”. This is perfectly normal
procedure, you cannot tell by looking at a closed mouth, covered by lips. If you
can see the puppies tongue lolling out, or poking out there will almost
certainly be something wrong with its mouth.
·
Do they have squashy lumps on the tummy button or high up between
the hind legs, if so it could be a hernia. Male
puppies testicles, when felt, there should quite clearly be two little lumps.
If there is one big one, it could be a hernia. Male puppies’ testicles haven’t
always descended at this age, so one squashy lump in that area is much
more likely to be a hernia than testicles!
·
Have a look in the ears, the skin should be clean and pale pink to
grey coloured. Bright pink or hot ears are carrying ear mites or an infection,
which may not be serious, but would put me off. Have a little sniff, if the
ears look healthy and smell of nothing then that is fine. Do check both ears;
sometimes a puppy will have an infection in one ear but not the other.
·
Young well handled puppies should not growl at you, unless of
course you give them good cause, i.e. making silly growling noises at
them-which a surprising number of people do, or if you startle them in some
way. Any self-respecting puppy will growl back! And could not be blamed. However most young puppies will “play bite”
especially if you dangle your fingers around its mouth, again lots of people do
this and wonder why they are bitten! If
you put your hand down to stroke the puppy, stroke it, don’t dangle!! All
puppies nibble at anything they can get their little teeth into, the breeder
should show you how to discourage it.
·
Puppies that are used to being in the house will gallop in from
outside. Those that have hardly been in the house will be nervous of coming in
and may have to be carried or persuaded to come in, or enter in an apprehensive
manner. The way they enter the house
from outside will give you an indication of how often they have come into it!
·
It should take at least an hour to see the puppies and talk about
feeding, worming, vaccinations, exersise, etc etc. The breeder
should show you how to groom and trim it, and how to keep their nails the right
length, and all about the day-to-day care. If you were on time, you should not
be hurried up, by the breeder, they should be willing to answer all your
questions. Don’t start chatting about other things though and waste the
breeder’s time.
·
If at any time during the visit, you are sure you don’t want one of
these puppies, then do say so. Just say: “I’m sorry,
they are not really what we are looking for, thank you for your time” and
leave! Don’t waste their time, if you know that you don’t want one. Don’t be
persuaded to buy a puppy, stick to your guns. A good breeder shouldn’t need to
try to persuade you.
·
If you really like the puppies and are sure you do want to buy one,
don’t go home “to think about it” If the breeder and puppies are good ones,
they will sell quickly. I am not trying to encourage you to make snap decisions
but if it is the right puppy, then someone else may beat you to it, if you
don’t act quickly!
PAPERWORK
Insurance
All good breeders will insure the puppy for you for the first six
to sixteen weeks, depending on which company they use. The most commonly used
ones are Pet Plan, Pet Protect, Dog Breeders Association and The Kennel Club.
The puppy will be covered from the moment you buy it. Sometimes the breeder
will ring up the insurance company, on the day you pick the puppy up. You will
be given a copy of the cover note, which explains what they pay out for.
DON’T even consider buying a puppy that the breeder does not insure
for you.
RECEIPT
A receipt should always be given, stating the names and addresses
of seller and buyer, the name, breed, colour and sex of puppy and price paid,
signed and dated by both parties. You MUST be given this to take home. The receipt may also be a “sales contract”,
so read it very carefully before you sign it, and get the breeder to explain
anything you are not clear about. It is normal for a breeder to request that if
ever you can’t keep the dog, for whatever reason, that you offer it back to
them first, before you sell it or pass it on to someone else.
You should tell the breeder that you will have the puppy examined
by a veterinarian in the next forty-eight hours. This is because, according to
the “Sale of Goods act”, you will be entitled to your money back for a
seven-day period, after sale, if the “goods” are unsatisfactory. As far as the
law is concerned the puppy is “goods” and if you can prove it is unhealthy or
unsuitable you are entitled to your money back. Don’t abuse this right, and do
get the puppy to be thoroughly examined by a veterinarian within forty-eight
hours. If the veterinarian advises you to take it back to the breeder, do so
without delay. If you do not do this quickly, you will lose your right to a
refund.
If possible arrange to pick the puppy up at a time of day when you
will return home in time to show the puppy to your veterinarian the same day.
If it does need to be returned it will be much easier to do it the same
day. Once you have kept it overnight,
you and the family will become fond of it very quickly and it can be hard to
return a puppy, even the next day. Also
if you return the same day, the chances are if you paid cash, they will still
have it, and if you paid by cheque it will be simple to stop the cheque. I always buy anything expensive with my
credit card or cheque book; you get lots of protection that way.
FEEDING AND GENERAL CARE INSTRUCTIONS
Make sure the breeder explains carefully exactly how and what and
when to feed your puppy. Eight week old puppies should really be on four meals
a day. They are usually fed on a
“complete puppy” diet, with or without extra meat. You should be given a feed
chart with all the details written down clearly so that you won’t forget.
The breeder should also give you written details of when the puppy
has been wormed and what with. It should also say how often and with what you
should worm your puppy in the future. If the puppy has had any vaccinations
then you should receive the vaccination card that the veterinarian supplied
with the vaccination.
Pedigree
This is a form that shows the puppy’s parents and ancestors. It
should preferably be a four or five generation one. Starting from the far left
hand column, there will be two names, one above the other, the top one is the
Sire (father) and the one directly underneath is the Dam (mother). On the right
of those will be another column, this time with four names, these are the
parents of the Sire and Dam, and again the next column will contain eight names
of their parents and so on. If they are
not written on the pedigree and you do buy a puppy, ask for them to put the KC
registration numbers of the parents alongside their names. This is especially
important if the registration papers are not back from the Kennel Club yet. You
will need the mother’s registration number to “track” whether the puppies are
really being registered or not.
At the top there will be a space to write in the puppy’s name, when
it has been registered, date of birth and sex, together with the name address
and phone number of the breeder.
Underneath there should be the words: “I/We certify that the above
particulars are true to the best of my knowledge” and then signed and dated by
the breeder. The pedigree MUST be signed by the breeder, or it is worthless.
Kennel Club Registration Certificate.
If these are available to see, i.e.: the puppy has already
been registered, compare the date of birth and parents names, with those on the
Pedigree, they must be the same.
The breeder of the puppies (the owner of the mother) is the only
person that can register the puppies. Check that the name and address of the
breeder on the KC Registration certificate Is the same as the person you are
dealing with and that you are at that address? If not, ask why, and be a bit
suspicious if you are not happy with the answer. The only person that should be
selling puppies is the breeder/s of them, and not another third party.
Check that this IS a Kennel Club registration form. Some
unscrupulous breeders “register” their puppies with other “Clubs”. To be a
properly registered pedigree puppy, it HAS to be The Kennel Club,
If the puppies were advertised as KC reg,
then the certificate should be there to see. Breeders should not say KC Reg in an advert if the registration form has either, not
been sent off by them to the KC at all or if they have not been received back
from the KC.
If the breeder says the registration form has been sent off to the
Kennel Club, but they have not received the forms back, ask when the form was
sent. The Kennel Club are getting much faster at processing registrations these
days, and seldom take longer than a fortnight or three weeks at the very most,
unless there are problems with them accepting a name or two, in which case they
inform the breeder very quickly. Don’t be fobbed off with” I sent the form in
more than a month ago, and haven’t heard anything yet” This is very unlikely to
be true.
Occasionally breeders don’t send off the Registration Form to
register the puppies until they are all sold, as buyers like to choose the
puppy’s name. In this case you should be shown the “Litter registration form”,
it has spaces for the bitch owners name and address and bitch details on the
top left hand side, the dog owners, and stud dog details on the right.
Underneath will be spaces to name up to ten puppies, with columns for colour,
sex and alternative names and any endorsements. It should be filled in with the
parents’ registration numbers, number and gender of puppies born, date of
mating and date of birth, and signed by the owners of the father and the
mother.
If the breeder really has sent off the registration form, but not
had the certificates back yet, they should not mind if you want to speak to
someone at The Kennel Club, quoting the mother’s name, registration number and
date of birth of the puppies. They will tell enquirers if processing has
started on it, and whether or not they have received the form from the breeder.
If anything feels at all “fishy” then I would not buy a puppy. It depends how
important it is to you, to have a registered puppy, there are almost as many
problems these days, with new owners never getting their puppy’s registration
certificate, as there are with complaints about the puppy’s health and other
matters. If you have any ambitions to
show or breed your puppy in the future, I would advise that you do not pay for
and take a puppy home unless you are given its KC registration certificate on
the day you buy it. I would only buy an unregistered puppy if I could either
see the litter registration form filled in as above, or be able to confirm with
the KC on the phone, at the breeders, that the litter registration form has
been received and approved.
Endorsements on a registration certificate
When filling in the litter registration form, which the breeder
sends off to the KC to register them, they can put certain conditions on each
or all the puppys’ registration if they wish. These
endorsements can limit what you can do with your dog in the future. The breeder
can only put these endorsements on the Registration at the time of
registration; it cannot be done later, or by anybody else. The endorsements
are:
R: “Progeny not
eligible for registration”
This means that even thought he puppy is registered with the KC any
puppies it may produce will never be eligible for registration, unless the
breeder gives permission for it to be lifted.
Breeders do this for several reasons.
·
It may be that the breeder wants to wait and see how the puppy
grows and to make sure that it has been tested clear for any hereditary
diseases/conditions and that it is fully mature before it is bred from. If the
puppy does not turn out to be an outstanding example of the breed (i.e: good enough to breed from), or has unsatisfactory
testing results, (i.e: a high hip score) then it
should not be bred from. Even from top kennels, not every puppy will be the
highest quality, and the breeder is protecting their kennels’ reputation by not
allowing inferior puppies to be bred.
This is what a “responsible breeder” does. They may well want to be sure
that if you do want to breed, that you have to come back to them for help and
advice, which is a good thing. No-one
will know better which bloodlines will “work” with your puppy, when it’s old
enough to breed, and they will be able to give you a huge amount of help and
advice.
·
It may be that the breeder only wants to sell the puppy to a
genuine pet home, to people who have no ambition to breed. Many good breeders
feel there are enough puppies bred already, and would not encourage you to do
so. Breeding your pet does have its dangers, for both males and females. Many
people when they first buy their puppy have no intention of breeding and then
as it grows, it only takes a few friends to say to you “She’s gorgeous, you
should breed from her” to start them thinking about breeding a litter. So think carefully.
If you have ideas about breeding from your pet, and the
Registration Certificate is not there for you to see (the endorsements, if any,
will be printed clearly on the Registration Certificate) ask the breeder if
they are going to put endorsements on your puppy, and if so what they are. If they say they are going to endorse with
the above, ask their reasons. If they are similar to what I mentioned above,
then ask if they would be prepared to lift it in the future, and under what
conditions. Whatever is decided must be written into the sales contract, very
clearly. For example, “I will lift the
“Progeny not for registration” endorsement when the puppy has reached two years
of age and has a total hip score of 15 or less and a clear eye test by the
KC/BSAVA eye testing scheme.” This is
clear and as long as the puppy passes the relevant tests, and you have a copy
of this sales contract, the breeder should stick to their word. However a lot of problems can occur with
these endorsements, some breeders will lift the endorsement in the future and
some may go back on their word. Sometimes breeders and new owners will disagree
as to whether or not the young dog is good enough to breed from. Hopefully you really do just want a pet, and
all of this wont matter to you.
X
This endorsement means that the dog will not be issued with an
Export Pedigree.
This shouldn’t matter at all, as all it means is that if you sell
your dog to a non UK country, that it could not be shown or register any
puppies that might be born from it. The only time it may affect “ordinary”
owners is if you emigrate abroad, and then want to breed or show. It does not affect taking your dog abroad on
holiday, on the Pet Passport scheme, or even permanently, just that you can’t
show it or register puppies from it.
Breeders do this so that they can be informed if anyone does want
to get an Export pedigree for the dog. Most breeders are very concerned that
their puppies do not end up in Third World countries, or to the Far East where
animal welfare is very different to here. Many countries actually breed dogs
for human consumption, or the fur trade or they may end up in a puppy farm
abroad. Breeders have been duped into
selling puppies to someone who says they want a pet, only to find that they are
only buying it to sell abroad to a totally unsuitable home, often at a vast
profit. The breeder is just trying to protect their dogs.
So basically, if you want to breed, don’t buy a puppy with
endorsement “R” on it, unless you have it very clearly in writing that it WILL
be lifted when all relevant tests are done satisfactorily and the dog has
reached the required age.
.
IS YOUR HOME READY?
Most puppies sleep in the kitchen as it has an easily cleaned
floor, there will be lots of “accidents” to begin with. Don’t think that it
would be kind to have the puppy in your bedroom with you for the first few
nights and then move it elsewhere to sleep later on. Start as you mean to go on. If it is winter and the room is unheated, the
pup must have a high sided box, preferably with a lid and small entrance
hole. A sturdy cardboard box, just big
enough for the puppy to curl up in, is ideal to begin with. If you really want to buy the best bedding,
buy “Veterinary Bedding” from the pet shop. It is expensive, but will last for
many years. Otherwise find an old woolly jumper, cut all buttons etc off, and
line the box with that. If it’s something you have previously worn, so much the
better, as it will accustom him to your “smell”.
If the weather really is freezing, then arrange for some heating at
night, making sure it is safe, no electric bar fires or anything that could be
knocked over or chewed. Even thought he puppy may have been slept in an outdoor
kennel, it will have had its siblings to snuggle up to, and probably a heat
lamp as well. Don’t cook him though, if
you don’t shiver in the room with a T shirt on, he’ll be OK.
Go all around your house and garden and pretend a naughty toddler
is coming to stay! Move all valuables
out of reach. Children’s toys are a
great favourite, and apart from upsetting the kids when the puppy mangles them,
they can also be very dangerous if the puppy swallows something sharp or
unsuitable, which they all will, given half a chance!
It’s natural for puppies to chew so make sure they can only get
hold of their own toys and bones and not your best shoes or CD collection. If they do destroy anything in the early
days, it’s your fault not theirs.
Make sure all live electrical cables are tucked under carpets or
hidden in some way. Get into the habit of turning off appliances at the wall
when they are not in use. Sadly death by
electrocution is not uncommon.
Fill any gaps in between fitted furniture, i.e.: the gaps between
kitchen units and appliances like washing machines and fridges. Bricks make a very handy “hole
blockers”, puppies can very easily get wedged, and can even disappear right
round behind units, and cannot get out again.
Check your garden fences; make sure your precious puppy can’t
escape. Don’t forget the gap under any garden gates. To begin with it will be
small spaces that he can squeeze through, but later as he grows,
if he’s a medium to large breed he may well need a two-metre high fence to stop
him straying.
Check garden sheds, garages or outbuildings for anything dangerous.
Slug Pellets, trays of car oil, antifreeze, insecticides and industrial
cleaners and paint products are obviously deadly, but other things like liquid
clothes conditioner are just as dangerous, if drunk or rolled in.
Garden ponds and swimming pools can also be dangerous. If they have straight or slippery sides then they
may be deadly because also the puppy will probably survive falling in and may
be able to swim to the side, if he can’t get out easily it won’t take long to
drown. Heavy duty metal mesh can be laid over ponds to make them safe. Swimming pools should be drained when not in
use. When they are in use they MUST be
either fenced so the puppy cannot enter the area or covered with a rigid cover.
If you have small children (under seven years) I recommend that you
make an indoor kennel or buy a wire mesh travelling cage. The puppy can have a
cosy bed inside and will soon adopt this as their “home”, with the door left
open most of the time. You can shut him
in for short periods, while he’s having a day time nap so you can do house work
that is impossible with a puppy about. Like washing the kitchen floor, which
may need doing twice a day or so, until the house training is established.
The puppy can sleep safely without being disturbed. They are great for helping with house
training over night. A puppy who is put to bed, having been fed a few hours
earlier, had a good play so he is tired, and a trip round the garden to empty
himself, will sleep contentedly and you will wake up to a clean room. Puppies
very seldom soil their bedding. You can
also pop him in if your children have friends to play and the pup is getting
too excited, or if you have a “non-doggy” visitor, or if you have to go out
without him for short periods, maximum of a couple of hours. You can return home,
safe in the knowledge that your home will not have been destroyed and your
puppy will be safe. Crates are very useful; I wouldn’t have a puppy with out
one, but must not be overused. Seven or eight hours is
the maximum he should be in it for overnight. No long Sunday lie-ins for you
any more!!
At first, many people use cardboard boxes for a puppy’s bed. You
can get a sturdy one, just bigger than the pup, cut an entrance hole out of the
front and line with something cosy. They are easily replaced, so are very
hygienic, and once he starts “shredding” them, you can buy a proper bed. The
most popular are the rigid plastic ones sold in all pet shops, either oval or
round. Avoid the ones with “ventilation” holes in the base as pups have caught
their nails in them and ripped them out- ouch, very painful. Place newspaper
under the bedding, so if the pup is damp, the paper can soak it up, it cannot
evaporate in a plastic bed. Don’t buy bean bags or any “filled” beds like
duvets, to begin with. They will almost
certainly be chewed and the puppy may choke on the filling. You can get these types of bed/bedding when
he has grown up a bit and stopped chewing everything.
Buy a heavy ceramic water bowl and a steel or ceramic feed
bowl. Don’t use plastic. Apart from
being chewed and played with like Frisbees, plastic is now recognised as not
being a good container for food or drinks, because it “leeches”, and may affect
the pups mouth and tongue and pigmentation. (Black colouring to the nose and
muzzle)
GOING HOME
So you have decided to buy a puppy and are going to collect
it. If at all possible take an adult or
older child with you to hold the puppy on their lap for the journey home. If this is not possible then you will have to
borrow or buy and travelling box or crate.
If the puppy is a small to medium breed and no more than nine weeks it
should fit into a collapsible cardboard container that are available from most
veterinarians. They cost about £5. Or you may be able to borrow or hire one.
Whatever you do, don’t pick up a puppy on your own, with no safe
crate or container. You cannot drive and see to a puppy loose on the seat. He
will have no “car balance” at all and the first time you brake, even gently, he
will fall straight off the seat, on to the floor. If he’s loose on the floor he
will automatically graduate towards you, and there is a very high chance he
will get stuck under a seat or even worse under the pedals. A puppy wedged
under the brake pedal is no joke, believe me!
He will not stay in an open bed or basket, and he will also probably be
sick all over the car.
Take a couple of old towels and a kitchen roll. Puppies are almost
always sick on their first few journeys in the car, even if the breeder has
done the right things, like not feeding him for a couple of hours before
hand. So prepare any “puppy holders” for
this. If the puppy is sick on the way home, just ignore it and clean the puppy
up, he can’t help it and if he is feeling sick you must be kind, so no telling
him off for being sick in the car. Put one towel on the holders lap and have
another ready, with the kitchen roll within reach.
If the weather is hot in the summer time, arrange to pick up the
puppy either early morning or late afternoon when the sun is not so hot,
especially if you have along journey. If you have a really long journey home –
say more than four hours the pup will need the opportunity to relieve himself,
though he may not actually do anything.
If this is the case, line out the boot or hatchback with newspaper and
after four hours stop somewhere safe and let him loose in this area for a few
moments so he can have a wee if he wants to. Be very careful he does not jump
or fall out of the car, don’t take your eyes off him even for a moment. It’s probably better not to give him anything
to drink unless he has either: been sick
several times or he is panting because the weather is hot, or you have been on
the road for more than five hours. If he
needs a drink he should have one, but try and stop for half an hour or so, so
that he has a chance to keep it down for a while, so it can do him some
good. He may throw up again as soon as
you set off, but at least you will have done your best!
Make sure he is in the shade, in the car; it may mean the “holder”
has to sit in the rear of the car with the puppy if the sun is shining onto the
front passenger seat. If he is travelling in a crate, if it will fit on the
floor behind the passenger seat, this will be ideal, as he will be out of the
sun and firmly wedged, as you can slide the front seat up to the crate so that
it can’t move. If this is not possible then the crate must be secured with seat
belts and/or bungee clips, so the crate won’t move around in the car. This is
important for your safety too, as if you are unlucky enough to have an accident
or have to brake hard, a crate can become a flying missile, and be just as
dangerous for the humans in the car as the little pup inside. If the crate is
going on a rear seat, you may need to level it, with towels underneath. Many car seats are not level and the pup will
constantly be sliding about, inside the crate.
Once you have set off, go straight home, no stops on the way,
unless you have to stop for the puppy’s needs. If a car door is opened, make
sure the puppy can’t escape, and if you need a “comfort” stop, then be as quick
as you can, lock the car up, leave every window open a tiny bit, park in the
shade, and cover the crate, so no-one can see him. If it’s really hot, you are on your own, and
there is no shade to park in, you will just have to wait!! Make sure you are “comfortable” before you
leave the breeder’s premises. It is very
unlikely that the puppy has even worn a collar before, let alone be lead
trained. So, don’t put a collar on him
in the car, he will hate it, and associate the car with discomfort. Don’t
whatever you do try to “take him for a walk” on the side of the road to relieve
himself, if he’s never had a lead on before, he will almost certainly struggle
and escape. Puppies are very good at getting out of incorrectly fitted collars.
This happened to a puppy I sold once; he was killed by a car before they even
got him home.
ARRIVING HOME
Carry him from the car and straight into the garden, once everyone
is in, shut any gates and put him down on the floor. Be quiet and calm and
encourage him to follow you round the garden for a few moments. He may just lie down and be too frightened,
being in a strange place with strange (to him) people. Hopefully he’ll sniff about
and have a wee, but if not don’t worry just pick him up and take him indoors.
Keep him in the same room as you and show him his water bowl, full of fresh
water, tinkle your fingers in it so he can hear that it’s something to
drink. If he has slept all the way home
he may be quite lively, or of course if he cried all the way home he will be
exhausted. Be very kind and talk sweetly
to him, to give him confidence in this strange place. Let him be with you until
he falls asleep and then pop him in his bed.
About an hour after he has arrived, or once he wakes up later,
offer him his food. He may take a few days to eat well; he is used to eating
with his siblings and may be too tired or worried to eat well. Don’t worry,
just make sure he has a chance to eat in peace, don’t have the whole family
standing there watching him! Remove what
he hasn’t eaten after twenty minutes or so, and offer him food again at a
“proper” meal time.
As long as he isn’t sick or has very loose motions, there will be nothing
to worry about. If he is sick or looks depressed and miserable for more than an
hour or two, then ring your veterinarian, Tummy troubles are quite common in
newly bought puppies, but occasionally it can be very serious, so if he is
obviously poorly, don’t “wait till the morning to see how he is”.
Take him to the veterinarian the following day, anyway, even if he
appears fine, to have a thorough check up, so you can be confident you have
bought a healthy puppy.
BEDTIME
Wherever the puppy is to sleep, at bedtime, put him to bed only
after he has had a meal a couple of hours earlier, a good play and trip round
the garden to hopefully empty himself.
Put him to bed, with a couple of safe toys, shut the door and go to bed.
Personally, I never go down to them again till the morning, no matter what sort
of a racket they make. Some pups will only cry for a night or two, and the
trick is to ignore them. If you start
going down to him, he’ll think you will always come if he cries, and it will
take much longer for him to settle at night. You can put a ticking clock in the
room, as it is supposed to help them sleep, sounding a bit like a heartbeat. He
will never have slept on his own before and is bound to be lonely. If he only
cries for a couple of nights, consider yourself lucky since it sometimes takes
up to a fortnight. Don’t go down to tell him off either, it isn’t his fault,
and mustn’t be punished for this, just ignored.
In the morning, if he is not confined in a crate, there will be
mess on the floor. Take him straight out into the garden and then come back and
clean it up. He must not be told off at
all for making a mess overnight, if you weren’t there to let him out he MUST NOT be blamed at all. Just clean it up and don’t
hold it against him, always remember he’s just a little baby, who has lost his
mum and siblings, and needs love and encouragement.
Take him out every hour, or after a meal or long drink, and
immediately he wakes after a nap. Don’t put him out, you have to go out with
him, and as soon as he starts to “perform” say “Good boy, be clean” and keep
saying it until he’s finished. It won’t be long before, whenever you say “Be
clean” he will go if he needs to. This
is very handy before a journey, or if you have to go out and leave him for an
hour or so.
I hope that the advice I have given is helpful to you and that you
are able to find the right puppy for you and your family and that you all have
great fun together.
Copyright 2001 I. A.
Pyart. All rights reserved.
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